A tub is supported by tub suspension assemblies. Material or articles to be treated (hereinafter sometimes a payload) is placed into the tub. The payload can be, for example, metal parts, plastic parts, clothes, or the like. Before, during or after loading of the payload, an agent may be introduced into the tub. The agent can be soap and water solution, paint, other organic solvent, sand, or any number of other well known cleaning or coating agents, or the like. After addition of the payload and the agent, where an agent is used, the tub typically is agitated for a time. After agitation, the payload and agent (again, where an agent is present) are removed and separated, in any convenient order. If the agent is a liquid, typically the agent is drained from the tub, typically by timed opening and closing of a system of drain valves or the like. In such circumstances, after drainage of the agent, the tub may be set into rotation to “spin dry” the payload in the tub to a damp condition as the spun out agent is drained. The payload typically is then removed for further processing.
The tub may also be the tub of a dryer in which the payload is subjected to drying, for example, by air provided by a fan and heated by, for example, a gas or electric heater and circulated through the tub contents. Tubs of this general description can be used in, for example, household washing and drying machines, industrial washing and drying machines, laboratory painting devices, industrial painting machines, tumbling cleaning and deburring machines, and so on.
The tub may be oriented with its axis of rotation extending vertically, horizontally, or at angles to vertical and horizontal. The tub may or may not be provided with internal agitating ribs. In use, the payload, which again can be metal parts, plastic parts, clothes, or the like, is placed into the tub and the agent (where one is used) is added. If the tub is provided with ribs, when the tub is set in motion, the ribs agitate the payload and agent (where one is used). The motion of the tub and its contents introduces vibrations which are coupled to components attached to the tub.